Coahuila
—  State  —
Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza
Flag Seal
Anthem: Himno Coahuilense
State of Coahuila within Mexico
Coordinates: 27°18′08″N 102°02′41″W / 27.30222°N 102.04472°W / 27.30222; -102.04472Coordinates: 27°18′08″N 102°02′41″W / 27.30222°N 102.04472°W / 27.30222; -102.04472
Country	Mexico
Capital	Saltillo
Largest City	Torreón
Municipalities	38
Admission	May 7, 1824[1]
Order	16th[a]
Government
• Governor	Ruben Moreira Valdez
• Senators[2]	Guillermo Anaya Ernesto Saro B. Jesús María Ramón
• Deputies[3]	Federal Deputies • Héctor Fernández • Héctor Franco López • Noé Fernando Garza • Hugo Martínez • Tereso Medina • Ignacio Moreira • Miguel Ángel Riquelme • Melchor Sánchez • Francisco Saracho • Jesús Ramírez • Tomasa Vives • Telma Guajardo • Elsa Martínez
Area[4]
• Total	151,563 km2 (58,519 sq mi)
	Ranked 3rd
Highest elevation[5]	3,710 m (12,170 ft)
Population (2010)[6]
• Total	2,748,391
• Rank	16th
• Density	18/km2 (47/sq mi)
• Density rank	26th
Demonym	Coahuilense
Time zone	CST (UTC−6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC−5)
Postal code	25 - 27
Area code	Area codes • 842 • 844 • 861 • 862 • 864 • 866 • 867 • 869 • 871 • 872 • 873 • 877 • 878
ISO 3166 code	MX-COA
HDI	0.850 High Ranked 9th
GDP	US$ 21,556,311.01 mil[b]
Website	Official Web Site
^ a. Joined to the federation under the name of Coahuila y Texas also recognized as Coahuila y Tejas. ^ b. The state's GDP was 275,920,781 million of pesos in 2008,[7] amount corresponding to 21,556,311.01 millon of dollars, being a dollar worth 12.80 pesos (value of June 3, 2010).[8]

Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (Spanish pronunciation: [koaˈwila ðe saɾaˈɣosa]), officially Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northeastern Mexico.

Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west. To the north, Coahuila accounts for a 512 kilometres (318 mi) stretch of the U.S. - Mexico border, adjacent to the United States state of Texas along the course of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte). With an area of 151,563 square kilometres (58,519 sq mi), it is the nation's third-largest state. It comprises 38 municipalities (municipios). In 2010, Coahuila's population is 2,748,391 inhabitants.

The capital of Coahuila is Saltillo, and its largest city is Torreón. Coahuila also includes the cities of Monclova (a former state capital), Piedras Negras, and Ciudad Acuña.

Etymology[link]

From the Nahuatl Kuahuilan also Cuahuilan (Place of the Trees). The researcher Vito Alessio Robles gave the final translation to the word Coahuila.

History[link]

The Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in the capital of the Aztecs. Such exploration was delayed because the northern climate was harsher and there was no gold. The first Spanish settlement in the region now called Coahuila was at Minas de la Trinidad in 1577. Saltillo was settled in 1586 to form part of the province of New Spain, Nueva Vizcaya of the vice-royalty. Later it became one of the first provinces of Nueva Extremadura to be explored by Europeans.

"Coahuila and Texas" was one of the constituent states of the newly independent United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution, and included Texas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1835, when it seceded to form the Republic of Texas. Monclova was the capital of the state from 1833 to 1835.

In 1840 Coahuila briefly became a member of the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande.

On February 19, 1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868.

During the Mexican Revolution, Francisco Villa attacked the city of Torreón.

On April 4, 2004, the border city of Piedras Negras was flooded. More than 30 people died and more than 4000 lost their homes. In 2007, Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions (Pacto Civil de Solidaridad) to same-sex couples.^[9]

Geography[link]

The Sierra Madre Oriental runs northwest to southeast through the State, and the higher elevations are home to the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests.

East of the range, the land slopes gently toward the Rio Grande, and is drained by several rivers, including the Salado and its tributary the Sabinas. The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the eastern portion of the State, and extends across the Rio Grande into southern Texas.

The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, and is part of the Chihuahuan Desert. The Bolsón de Mapimí is a large endorheic basin which covers much of the western portion of the State and extends into adjacent portions of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The Nazas River, which flows east from Durango, and the Aguanaval River, which flows north from Zacatecas, empty into lakes in the Bolsón. Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the (Comarca Lagunera), which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango.

Coahuila contains two biosphere reserves. Maderas del Carmen lies on the northern border of the State, and includes sections of the Chihuahuan desert and sky islands of pine-oak forest in the Sierra del Carmen. The springs, lakes, and wetlands of Cuatro Ciénegas lie west of Monclova on the west slope of the Sierra Madre.